Imagine, if you will, four
stars. Viewed in the skies of Earth they appear to form a close-knit
belt, reaching across the middle of a constellation called Bek. They
are the closest stars to our own star, Sol, and like our star they are
surrounded by planets both gaseous and solid. Once upon a time these
stars hung in our sky, so close yet untouchable. Not for much longer
shall that be the case.

Humankind has always been filled with the
urge to spread, to carve out new territories and experience new vistas,
from the time we wandered down from the trees to explore the savannahs,
and this urge fills us still. On the centenary of Neil Armstrong's
legendary walk, Armstrong, the first colony on the moon, was
opened. Colonists on the moon now number in the millions, and their
success has kindled further desires to reach into the stars. For we
have just brushed the surface; there is so much more to see.

To
this end, the World Government funded a vast group of scientists and
other specialists to explore the possibility of terraforming: altering
other worlds to suit our own needs. Years of research followed, filled
with failures, but success crept into our work and it is now that I can
announce the fruits of our labour.

We are not here to create a
second or third Earth. Before all else you must understand this. In
order to achieve such a wild aim we would have to be Gods. Our first
priority, when terraforming a world, is to create a breathable
atmosphere and a source of water and food. In short, we will enable the
planets' colonies to sustain themselves. And to prosper. Each world's
resources will further our scientific knowledge and daily living, and
it is my dream that a network of trade will be set up within our solar
system and beyond.

(Cheers from the audience)

A word of
warning. We cannot predict what physical or even genetic effects living
on a different planet will have upon humankind, especially if we are to
eventually venture beyond our solar system. Alien elements, chemicals,
flora, many other possibilities—these cannot all be eliminated from the
worlds. Naturally, a planet would be fully assessed before it is
terraformed, and if we detect harmful elements within a world's makeup
that cannot be dealt with, that world will be passed over. But
the danger of subtle genetic changes can never be totally
overcome.

A great future awaits humankind! Our neighbours, Venus and Mars,
are no longer enemies to our frail bodies. Plans to terraform them are
being refined as I speak. And one day, the stars of Bek's belt will
shine upon human worlds!

(Wild cheers)

Dr. Zes Orion, speaking in 2072.

- - -

Humankind
did terraform and colonise the Bek Star-belt. The four stars—Allia,
Solarei, Tethys and Venoia—now shine upon human worlds. But fate dealt
an underhanded blow to the fledgling colonies.

War erupted in the
Sol System. Relations between the Inner Half—the area between the sun
and the asteroid belt, containing the three human worlds and many
colonies—and the Outer half—the area between the asteroid belt and the
edge of the star system, containing a handful of terraformed moons and
an abundance of deep-space stations and drifter colonies—had
always been difficult, as two ways of life had developed within the two
sets of people. In 2251AD, these difficulties culminated in war, only
three years after the colony ships departed for the Bek Star-belt.

The
godsend of the non-space drive, invented in 2145AD, turned into a
bittersweet boon. The drive allowed space crafts to slip between the
fabric of spacetime, allowing long journeys to be made in a matter of
minutes. But it was discovered that this means of travel could damage
the human genome, and that the greater the warping of space—ie: the
greater 'real' distance travelled—the greater the damaging effect.
Consequently the journey to Bek was made over a period of five years
and several non-space jumps were interspersed with periods of
real-space travel. For obvious reasons it was vital that the colonists
were healthy in all respects. They were cryogenically frozen during the
travel to conserve resources.

Was all this effort in vain? In
2258AD, the war in the Sol System all but destroyed the system with its
terrifying ferocity and the use of weapons of mass destruction. The Bek
colonies, only established for five years and still reliant upon
frequent shipments of supplies from Earth, were cut off from their
mother and left to fend for themselves. Repeated attempts to contact
the Sol System have been met only with static and nonsensical garbles.
Fear of what we would find convinced us that a return venture would be
foolhardy.

There are some who still say that we will perish, even
now that it has been ten years since that dreadful year, 10 After
Separation (AS). But that is not the human way.

For now we have
lost the high technology that allowed us to travel between the planets
and stars, but this is only temporary. Maintaining our growing populations
has been the greatest priority. Already we of the planet Naiad do not
consider ourselves British or even Earthers; we are those of Naiad, the
Naidi. It seems that every planet of Bek will forge its own history
and its own identity.

Yet it is important that we do not lose
touch with our past. We are from the planet Earth. And one day, when
the terrible affects of the weapons of mass destruction have passed,
perhaps we will return to our motherland. For now, it is our task, the
Chroniclers of Naiad, to record human history, the never-ending saga.

Introduction to the Naiad Historical Chronicles.

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